SIMON Goodwin’s evolution towards taking over from Paul Roos at the end of the 2016 season could move to another level in the second half of this season.

Roos said Goodwin, who will take over as Melbourne coach at the end of the 2016 season, could have greater responsibility in the latter part of 2015.

“[He’ll] probably [do a bit] more in the second half [of this season], but he’ll be continuing doing what he’s doing,” he told Dee TV.

“He’s a jack-of-all-trades – he’s really helpful for me and he picks out a certain section of our game during the week and he takes players in small groups. He and I chat regularly about how he thinks our game is going and what I need to work on or we need to work on as a group.

“Whether we introduce some other aspects to his role this year or not – definitely next year we will. Probably at the moment we’ll just see how it goes for the back end of the season.”

Roos said the Adelaide great and now Melbourne senior assistant coach was a “passionate development person”.

“He’s got a real hands-on role at the moment and he really enjoys that side of it. He enjoys dissecting games and getting his hands dirty with specific things and that’s a great role at the moment. Him and [development and strategy coach] Macca (Brendan McCartney) are having a significant role with our young players,” he said.

“Fruity (Brett Allison) and Millsy (Brad Miller) have done a terrific job [in the development area], but having extra eyes and ears, and people and just bodies to be able to do it [helps].

“Simon is just a great student of the game and he’s fanatical about footy. At the moment it’s just about letting him do what he is really passionate about and loves [doing] – and that’s helping us as a team, helping our contest and helping our ball movement pattern.

“As we move further into the back end of this year and into next year, things will change slightly.”

Roos, who has 32 matches left as Melbourne coach (not counting any finals prospects), said he was relishing his journey with the club.

“I just feel like now that the club’s in good shape, particularly from a coaching point of view, with Simon Goodwin and Brendan McCartney coming up, and all of the boys I brought on in the first year,” he said.

“Justin Plapp and Shannon Byrnes have also come on as Casey coach [and welfare and development coach, respectively]. So it’s a really, really strong coaching group and I’m just so confident in Simon, when he takes over. The players are going to get some real consistency.

“They’ll hear a different voice and a slightly different message, but his understanding of the game is fantastic. Having Brendan as an ex-senior coach as well [is fantastic].”

Having overseen the recruitment of 22 players since he joined the club – exactly half of Melbourne’s list – Roos couldn’t speak highly enough of the red and blue recruiting team.

“The club’s really, really well positioned and I think the recruiting has been terrific. I can only talk in my time here, because it’s only what I’ve been involved in with Jason [Taylor] and Todd [Viney] and that crew, who have done a terrific job,” he said.

“We’ve seen some really good young players play already this year and I think the trading we’ve done over the last 18 months [has been outstanding]. ‘H’ (Heritier Lumumba) has been terrific and Jeffy [Garlett] has been fantastic.

“Unfortunately for Frosty (Sam Frost), we haven’t seen a lot [of him due to injury] and Newts (Ben Newton) is going to improve – there’s no doubt about that. So I think the list is a lot better and the coaching group is really solid. Our leadership, we’re working really hard on, and Nathan [Jones] has certainly improved as a captain this year [compared] to last year. Things are heading in the right direction.”